Fabric Journals

Last week I read this great tutorial over at Stitched In Color and knew that I just HAD to make some of these journal covers.  I packed up a box full of fabric scraps and took them with me to NJ with plans of making one for my DIL's birthday, while my granddaughter was napping in the afternoons.  Here's the one I made for her...

She loves orange and grey and bird fabrics, so I hope she likes my selections.  She always has a notebook handy to jot down ideas, recipes, etc. so I thought she'd like this.  And the great thing is that they fit a standard composition notebook, and you can replace the notebook when it's full, and re-use the cover!

My daughter liked it so well that she dug through her scrap basket later that night and asked me to make one for her too!  So here's hers...

These were so easy to make, and they're great to make up for quick last-minute gifts.  The hardest part for me is deciding what fabric to put where.  Improvisation is hard for me - I'm a planner - so it's hard to just throw things together randomly.  But I love how they both turned out, even if it took longer to plan them than it did to sew them...

Now that I'm home for a few days before my next trip, it's time to get some more projects accomplished.  But first, we're headed out to celebrate my hubbie's birthday tonight...